Donizetti
La Fille du Régiment 

Gwendoline Blondeel . Patrick Kabongo . Jean-François Lapointe . Éléonore Pancrazi . Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin . Flore Royer . Attila Varga-Tóth . Jérémie Delvert . Jean-Romain Vesperini 

Chœur de l’Armée française
Chœur de l’Opéra Royal
Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Gaétan Jarry Conductor
Jean-Romain Vesperini Director, assisted by Claire Manjarrès
Christian Lacroix Costumes, assisted by Jean-Philippe Pons
Roland Fontaine Stage sets
Étienne Guiol Video
Christophe Chaupin Lights
Laurence Couture Make-up and hairstyling
Maurine Baldassari et Cécile Larue Wigs
Julie Berce Accessories

In 1840, riding the wave of exceptional success, Donizetti presented his first French-language opera, La Fille du régiment. (The Daughter of the Regiment) in Paris. King Louis-Philippe had just reopened Versailles, deciding to create a museum dedicated to “all the glories of France”. It paid greater tribute to Napoleon than it did even to Louis XIV, in a France fervently awaiting the return of the Emperor’s ashes. Suffice it to say that patriotism was at a peak, and The Daughter of the Regiment was perfectly in keeping with the mood. Donizetti joyfully gives his all to this unlikely love story between the camp follower Marie, who has become the regiment’s adopted daughter, and the intrepid Tonio, who has saved the young woman and joined Napoleon’s army. There are patriotic arias and choruses, an onslaught of bel canto and Tonio’s famous aria, the “Everest of Lyric Art” with no less than nine high Cs !

The thousandth performance took place in Paris in 1914. During the December 1940 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lily Pons, after an astonishing “Salut à la France”, launched into La Marseillaise, which became a symbol of freedom in the midst of war. The virtuoso soloists Gwendoline Blondeel and Patrick Kabongo, accompanied by the French Army Choir, will transport the audience at the Opéra Royal to the beating heart of the motherland.

Royal Opera / Château de Versailles Spectacles Production.

The shows on April 10th and 12th were recorded by Wahoo Production.